News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:	Tuesday, April 29, 1997
Contact:	Allan Labowitz, Citizen Planning Committee; (703) 461-2274 (O), (703) 548-2723 (H), or ; Tom Brannan, Assistant City Manager ; (703) 838-4300

Alexandria to Mark Rememberance of Holocaust with Civic Ceremony on May 9; Guest Speakers Include Congressman James Moran and Holocaust Survivors Charlene Schiff and Ruth Greifer

The City of Alexandria will observe the Days of Remembrance of the Holocaust with a civic ceremony at 12 noon on Friday, May 9, in Market Square, 301 King Street, Alexandria. Congressman James P. Moran will join Alexandria residents Charlene Schiff and Ruth Greifer, two survivors of the Holocaust, as guest speakers at the ceremony hosted by the Alexandria City Council.

The event is open to the public. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the Cameron Street lobby of City Hall, which adjoins Market Square.

The May 9 ceremony in Alexandria marks the tenth consecutive year that the City has sponsored the commemoration of the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust, known internationally as Yom Hashoah. The Alexandria event is the only local government-sponsored program of its kind in the Metropolitan Washington area. Rep. Moran began the City’s tradition of sponsoring civic ceremonies marking Yom Hashoah in 1988 while he served as Mayor of Alexandria.

At the ceremony, Alexandria Mayor Kerry Donley will deliver a City Council proclamation designating the week of May 4 through May 11 in Alexandria as Days of Remembrance of the Holocaust. In addition to remarks by Rep. Moran, Mrs. Schiff and Mrs. Greifer will speak on their personal recollections of the Holocaust.

During the ceremony, Members of City Council and City Manager Vola Lawson will light six candles in memory of the six million Jews and others who perished in the Holocaust. Alexandria Symphony Orchestra music director/conductor Kim Allen Kluge and ASO concertmaster Reiko Niiya-Tigges will present musical selections during the ceremony.

Also participating will be Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs and Rabbi Jack L. Moline, Agudas Achim Congregation of Alexandria; Rabbi Arnold Fink, Beth El Hebrew Congregation of Alexandria: and Rev. Nancy Foil, pastor of the Baptist Temple Church of Alexandria. Dr. Ramon Tasat, Chazzan, Agudas Achim Congregation, will present a song of remembrance.

The Alexandria ceremony is being held in conjunction with civic observances planned throughout the nation during the week of May 4 to commemorate the six million Jews and other victims of Nazism who lost their lives during World War II. The commemoration of Yom Hashoah by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council is scheduled for Thursday, May 8, at the Capital Rotunda, in Washington, D.C.




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